Ok, I'll try to post some pictures later tonight, but just got in the mail a cylinder I bought off eBay. It was listed as a 12 stop conversion cylinder for an 1853. I took a chance on it because I noticed it had six chambers and got it for under a $100.

My Lord, it's appears to be a 12 stop Richards and it looks like it may never have been installed or fired. It is in 44 Colt and has almost full blueing, inspectors marks, the last four of a serial and you can still see most of the engraving, light, but it is there.

Like I said, I'll try to take some decent pics later and get them up tonight.

Ok, couldn't resist temptation and dug out my collection of old original 44 Colt cartridges. I have cartridges from UMC, REM-UMC, DCC, WRACO, Martin primed, and internally primed. Out of all of 40 some cartridges, the only ones that wouldn't just drop right into the chambers were the Martin primed. Now, I may be wrong, but weren't the Martin cartridges made specifically for the early conversions by Colt and Remington? Weird.